What’s The Best Way To Improve Posture?

If you decide you want to improve posture, you’re probably going to try a lot of stuff. Some of the things you try will work for a little while, some won’t work at all. Some things make a lot of sense, while other things defy logic… when you really think about. I’m here to help save you all the trouble from the things that didn’t work for me, and finally tell you what did help!

There’s lots of things to think about when you start working on your posture, like trying to remember, using pillows, maybe trying to wear a brace, but what worked for me was exercise.

Can I Improve Posture By Remembering To Stand Up Straight?

Improving Posture is not a memory problem.

How good is your memory? Good enough to help you improve posture all day long? That’s really a lot to ask. It’s a difficult challenge to keep yourself upright while you try to focus on your work.

Plus, your muscles get tired after awhile and will naturally drop you into an unnatural position. Still, people try it this way all the time. A mirror on top of your monitor so that if you can still see yourself in the mirror, you know you’re still sitting up straight might work.

A reminder set on your desktop that pops up every 15 minutes to remind you to sit up straight may also help, but I still think this is going about things the hard way.

Can I Improve Posture By Using A Pillow In My Car And Office Chair?

That’s a support, but it’s a good start.

I’m always reminding people that pillows and supports are just that — supports. They can’t fix anything, because that’s not what they’re designed to do. They do give you hints about what might work, though.

They are telling you and showing you that when your spine is in a good position, you feel better and your posture is better. They’re even helping to hold it in that position. They are “supporting” a your spine, which may not be a very good spine at this point.

If you were to build up your postural muscles, the posture supports would provide additional help in keeping you in the right place all day but they can’t undo years of bad posture. Pillows are nice and supports do help, but if you’re asking me how to improve posture, they’re not going to get it done.

Can I Improve Posture By Wearing A Back Brace Or Posture Bra?

They have their purpose, but improving posture isn’t it.

Trying to improve posture by wearing a brace is like trying to make your arm stronger by putting it in a cast. My friend broke his arm, wore the cast for six weeks. When he took off the cast, we laughed because it was smaller than his other arm!

The before and after pictures make it hard to believe that they don’t work. It’s more that they were designed for people in pain, that can’t get their posture muscles to work correctly. They’re not a long term solution.

By wearing the posture corrector brace, the muscles get weaker and weaker every day. It’s tough to get out of a brace once you get into it. If you’re wearing a brace as a temporary measure to keep yourself out of pain, that’s what it’s there for. Once the pain dies down a bit, you’ve got to build up the muscles as part of your long-term answer.

Can I Improve Posture By Doing Exercise?

Yes, but there are a couple of rules.

If you go about trying to improve posture with exercise, you will begin to see results at a much faster pace than any remembering, support, pillow, or brace. Better yet, the results will last much longer.

It’s not the place that most people start. Everyone wants to start with things that don’t require any extra effort, and I certainly understand that. If any of the other stuff worked, I’d be right there with you! They just all seem good when the alternative is exercising.

If you do the right exercises, you should start to notice a difference in how long you can sit and stand up straight after just a few days. Keep at it and you’ll notice visible difference in just weeks! Start doing exercise for your posture as soon as possible. Every day that you have bad posture just makes it harder to get results.